On the Scene in Greece

Written by Dimitrios Machairidis

The winner takes all. Against all odds Alexis Tsipras, the radiant Greek prime minister and leader of the radical party SYRIZA, won a clear victory last Sunday during the second parliamentary elections in Greece in less than a year. Alexis Tsipras came to power on January 26th, 2015, promising the abolition of all memorandums Greece had signed with the European Central Bank, the European Union and the IMF and a return to old prosperous years – promises that were never realized. Instead, the first short-term government of Alexis Tsipras introduced the capital controls to the Greek economy and a new tougher memorandum that opened the door to more than forty of his deputies to leave SYRIZA and create a new party, the “People’s Alliance.”

At the end of August, a new round of parliamentary elections was the only emergency exit for Tsipras. He seemed alone, betrayed and defeated. Finally he was not! Tough decisions are ahead for Alexis Tsipras. Last Sunday night was the brightest night for Tsipras. 35% of Greek voters decided to give him a second mandate to run Greece’s affairs, same proportion as that of the mandate of last January. Tsipras will continue to run the affairs of Greece together with his ally, a small right wing party of “Independent Greeks,” an awkward alliance between radical left and right.